One of the disappointments of the post-Vatican II period has been the glacial pace of the growth in Catholic biblical literacy the Council hoped to inspire. Why the slow-down? Several reasons suggest themselves. Read more…
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Catholic Springtime 
So are niche Bibles bad because they are niche or because they rely on trendy translations? I bought niche Bibles for my kids — Prove-It! editions. Had they been available in the RSV instead of the NAB I would have chosen the RSV.
The article seems to take a shot at niche Bibles simply to mock the people who buy them; it seems the ho-hum translations the niche Bibles are using are the real problem. The niche Bibles that are cited seem to be marketed to non-Catholics, anyway.
In theory, though, I have no problem with niche Bibles. In fact, a Bible with special notes or commentary that says, “Check out this passage! I found it really helpful because . . . ” would certainly be published with the goal of wider readership of the Bible in mind.
No. I disagree with Weigel. Reading the Bible is not a priority for Catholics because they don’t perceive that reading the Bible should be a priority in one’s life. We’re all like children; we need to be reminded of the basics over and over and over again. I am not persuaded that niche Bible publishers are to blame for this.
Why did I start reading the Bible? I had kids, and I had a vague notion that “a good Mom should read the Bible to her kids”. Since I loved reading to the kids anyway, the Golden Children’s Bible was a good fit, and gave me context to approach a “real” Bible in my personal reading.
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So I had this great format for my 3rd grade catechism class, based on a sort of Top Ten list for Catholic literacy. It worked great last year. This year, I thought I would “tweak” it by adding an extra task of teaching the kids how to navigate the Bible. However, because the kids’ knowlege of the Bible was so impoverished, it became such a time-consuming part of our classtime that my fabulous Top Ten became a fabulous Top Three.
Was it worth it? I think so.